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I’m a long-time Mac user looking into upgrading to a more modern Windows PC based C4D setup. I have a trash can Mac that's getting old.It's a little unclear what performance boosts I’d generally be getting with GPU based setup - discussions and tutes tend to be specialized and advanced.

I’ve done some initial research, and Octane seems the most popular setup, but I still have some newbie questions:

Would Octane or GPU cards boost toon shading?

Would Octane or GPU cards boost the handling of large scene files?Would I need a viewport card?

Would Octane or GPU cards boost character-oriented simulations like hair and cloth?

How hot do all these GPU cards get?I live in a tropical island, and my rooftop office already maxes out the A/C!Should I upgrade my old monitors too?

Also, will I get an overall speed boost with a more modern GPU oriented setup, or will the performance boost come to a hard stop if a feature isn’t mentioned in reviews?

I notice people often reply to post like this one with: “It depends on what you want and are trying to do.”To answer:I use C4D as a professional supplement to my media teaching work.I generally freelance during my summers or breaks.I’ve done a mix of mograph and character animation for documentaries plus title designs.I plan to move into character-based illustration and editorial work as well.

So I’m more of an indie guy - I don’t see myself doing ad agency or photo-realistic VFX work.I like the illustrative, graphic, “toon” 3D style more.That said, some of my work has involved large scene files, like Chinese landscapes or showing trends using cityscapes. Some renders have taken 10-15 minutes per 2K frame.